EMPORIA, Kan. – Missouri S&T's Jacob Luebbert (Warsaw, MO/Warsaw) earned another All-America honor to close out his career with the Miner program with a fourth place finish in the hammer throw on the opening day of the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Emporia State University.

Luebbert earned the fourth All-America honor of his career with his performance on Thursday, which began with a throw of 208-4 in the opening round – which briefly had him in the lead – and finished the round in third place, then posted his best mark of 209-3 in round two.  Luebbert remained in third place until the third round, when he dropped to fourth after Washburn's Braden Rose posted a throw of 218-4.

Missouri Southern's Peyton Barton, who won the indoor weight throw title, had the winning mark of 225-5 in the second round that held up for the national title.  Rose took second based on his third round throw and Shippensburg's Joshua Herbster finished third with his top mark of 211-10.

It is the second year in succession that Luebbert has finished among the top four in the hammer throw, as he took third in the event last season.

Meanwhile, Otto Knittel (Spring Hill, KS/Spring Hill) finds himself in 13^th place through the first five events of the decathlon contested on Thursday.

Knittel opened the day in the decathlon with a time of 11.14 seconds in the 100-meter dash that had him in seventh place when that event ended, but fell back in the standings during the three field events in the afternoon.  He posted marks of 21-4¾ in the long jump, 37-9 ¼ in the shot put and cleared 5-9 ¾ in the high jump before finishing the day with a time of 49.47 seconds in the 400-meters. 

The 400 time gave Knittel his highest point total in an event on the day with 808, as he reached the halfway point of the decathlon with 3,550 points and will resume action Friday with the 110-meter hurdles.  Pittsburg State's Hunter Jones leads the multi-event competition with 4,098 points through five events.

Missouri S&T's Owen Fraser (Kirksville, MO/Kirksville) will also be in action on Friday as he will take part in the discus throw beginning at 1:30 p.m.